Chapter 11

~Destiny~

       The group I was placed in consisted of six adults and three married couples, so you think there would be a minimal amount of whining.

       Apparently, that was not the case.

       Two people in the group wouldn't stop whining at all, even when a group of the creatures tried sneaking up on us. As soon as all the creatures were killed, Dan said in his most whiny voice, "That just made me even more hungry."

       "Dan, you're twenty-nine years old," I said. "Can you stop whining about food?"

       "But I'm hungry," Dan said.

       "Me too," Gerard whined.

       "Why couldn't we be the one who covered the area by the grocery store?" Dan asked. "We need food."

       "Okay, I feel insulted," Calvin said. "Grant and I didn't have to share all the food we st-- took from the grocery store. I could have kept it all to myself. You and Gerard are the ones who ate most of the food already."

       "Well, you should have known that food wasn't going to be enough for me," Dan said. "I love food too much. So here's what we should do. Despite the grocery store being on our side, we should head back there and get food."

       I sighed. "Dan, we really had to focus on finding out how to get out of here. We won't cover much ground if we go on a side that's not on ours."

       "Why would we just go to the grocery store when there's food?" Kenny asked. "There's other places that might have food, like the cafe or places that have a concession stand like the bowling alley. Both of that are on our side."

       "Ooh, the bowling alley," Priya said. "Just think, bowling balls are quite heavy. We can use that as a weapon."

       "And play zombie bowling," Calvin said. "I like the way you think."

       "I wasn't thinking about playing zombie bowling but sure, that works too," Priya said.

       "There better still be food at the concession stand in the bowling alley," Dan said. 

       For the sake of my ears not hearing Dan and Gerard whine anymore about being hungry, I really hoped so.

       When we got to the bowling alley, Calvin tried opening the door but he couldn't. It wasn't budging at all. "It's almost like something is blocking the door," he said.

       "Do you think someone is in there?" I asked. 

       Calvin shrugged before placing his ears against the door, trying to listen if anything was happening inside. A few moments passed before he said, "It's possible. I hear what almost sounds like someone walking against a wooden floor."

       "Almost?" Kenny asked.

       "It's very faint so I can't tell if it's that for sure," Calvin said. "Should we look for another entrance?"

       We all agreed to do so with someone of us going on way around the building and the rest the other, and meeting up back here if we didn't find anything. Right as we were about to walk off, Dan stopped in his tracks and looked at the building. 

       "Dan?" I asked. "What is it?"

       "I just heard something," Dan said, walking to the door and pressing his ear against it himself. He listened for only a few seconds before his eyes slightly widened. "Tasie's in there."

       "What?" I asked. "She is?"

       "Yeah, I can hear her talking quietly," Dan said. "And if she's talking, chances are there's someone in there with her." He then slightly knocked on the door. "Tasie?"

       It was silent for a bit before I clearly heard my daughter ask, "Dad? Is that you?"

       I released a sigh of relief, as did Dan as he said, "Yeah, it's me. Your mom is with me too. So is Calvin, Kenny, Priya, and Gerard."

       "Daddy?" I heard Ace ask.

       "Ace, my child, I'm coming to get you," Calvin said, trying to open the door again but it still didn't budge. "Yeah, I can't open the door."

       We heard things being moved around before the door finally opened, revealing Ace and Anastasia. Ace immediately hugged Calvin and Anastasia hugged me and Dan. "We've been so scared!" Ace said. "We saw these evil zombies outside so we quickly blocked the doors!"

       "And we had to take care of a few babies," Anastasia said. "But luckily, there was food and drinks here."

       "Babies?" Dan asked. "Who else is with you?"

       Anastasia and Ace led us inside where Priya and Gerard then blocked off the door again. Inside the bowling were all the kids of everyone we ran into earlier who had kids. Harry and Delta were two of them, as well as Mercedes, Lucian, Castiel, Gibson, Guinevere, Celeste, George, and then my little cousin Wilbur.

       They really did have to take care of a few babies. The youngest out of them all was one years old, but Delta, George, and Gibson were all one.

       And they all looked content right now.

      "You all did an amazing job staying on your own," I said, as Harry ran over to me, giving me a big hug.

       "Did you see our dad or mom?" Mercedes asked. 

       "We only saw your dad, and Holden too, and they're both okay," Dan said. "We just had to separate so we can try to find a way out of here." 

       Calvin looked at Guinevere since she was the oldest out of Josh's kids. "And we saw your dad too."

       Guinevere smiled but then frowned. "But... Where is he?"

       "He's in another group," Calvin said. "And even though we're supposed to say separated, I think two of us should go and get the group Shaw and Josh are in."

       "What about any of my family?" Wilbur asked. "Did any of you see my family?"

       "So... Am I not your family anymore?" Kenny asked.

       "I met my mom or my siblings, Kenny," Wilbur said.

       "Actually, yeah," Calvin said. "I was stuck with Grant for a bit. He's with Shaw and Josh, right?"

       "Uh, yeah, and you should know that," Dan said. "You tried getting Grant with you even though he was obviously going to stay with Ollie, and Ollie was with Shaw. Anyway, I'll volunteer to go find them."

       "Don't you want to stay with your children?" Calvin asked. "Don't be rude."

       "Of course I do but I already looked at the concession stand and they're running out of food," Dan said. "And you all know I'm the best bet at getting food without letting anything get in the way. Who's coming with me?"

       Nobody replied and as much as I also wanted to stay with my children, I offered to go with Dan. At least I knew they were all going to be in great care with Kenny and Priya. And maybe Calvin and Gerard but mainly the former.

       Anastasia, Ace, and Harry hugged us before we headed towards the door. Right as we were about to head out, Anastasia said, "Wait!" She then grabbed something sitting on a table and handed it to Dan.

       A crowbar.

       "What's up with crowbars being in random places?" Calvin asked.

       "Who cares?" Dan asked. "The other group has the crowbar and this is a better weapon than we have. Keep the door blocked until we come back."

       As we headed to the area where we were going to find the group that consisted of parents for the rest of the children, we only ran into two other creatures that we were quick to kill. We didn't see anymore. It was almost like their population was decreasing.

       Dan insisted on going to the grocery store first and once we got there, I saw someone just standing close to it. I didn't trust a random person standing completely still, so I grabbed Dan's arm and pulled him behind a dumpster, ignoring the foul stench.

       "What is it?" Dan asked.

       "You didn't see someone just standing by the grocery store?" I asked.

       Dan peered over the edge of the dumpster. "No, I definitely see her. Why is she just standing th--" He cut himself off when he quickly pulled away from the edge. "She looked back here. It's Cassidy."

       "Cassidy?" I asked. "She's dead. It can't be her."

       "It is," Dan said. "But get this. The side of her face looked smashed in. Exactly like how she was killed." He carefully peered over the edge again. "She's looking back at the grocery store and she's just standing there."

       He then stood up and slowly walked away from the garbage can. I tried grabbing his arm to stop him but it didn't work. He was already too far out of my reach. I stood up to and followed as Dan quickly made his way over to her and swung the crowbar.

       But as soon as the crowbar hit her, she vanished.

       ...Like a ghost.

       "Did we just hallucinate that?" Dan asked.

       "She was a ghost, Dan," I said right as the door to the grocery store opened so we looked over to see Noah standing there.

       "Why are you two here?" he asked. "Where's the rest of your group?" He gasped. "Did they die?!"

       "What?" Dan asked. "No, we came here looking for you all."

       Shaw carefully pushed Noah aside before he stepped out. "Why? Did you find anything about how to get back to our regular life."

       "No, but we found something better," I said. "Well, I would say they're better. Back at the bowling alley, where the rest of our group is, is all of our children. Oh, and Wilbur."

       "What?" Shaw asked. "Are they okay? Because they're all really young. Gibson is only one. They weren't with any adults."

       "Nope, it was just them," I said. "But the older kids did an amazing job at taking care of the younger ones. Anyway, we figured you, Holden, Josh, and Cleo would rather see them."

       "But first, I need to store up on food," Dan said so we headed into the grocery store and in the meantime, Grant was filling the backpack he had with food as well since they were all coming with us.

       "We shouldn't take too much time," Noah said. "Cassidy will come back soon."

       "You didn't see me get rid of her with my new crowbar?" Dan asked.

       "You didn't ge-- Am I seriously the only one who watches Supernatural?" Noah asked.

       "No, Ollie watches it too," Grant said. "Over and over and over again."

       Noah glared at Ollie. "Yet you questioned my method of using salt."

       "I'm getting over an injury that left me drained," Ollie said. "And I didn't know Cassidy was a ghost because I didn't know who she was until Grant told me."

       "Yeah, okay, my point is Cassidy's ghost is still out there," Noah said, facing Dan. "You just hit her with an iron crowbar, which makes her dissipate for a few minutes. But she isn't completely gone and since she's most likely here to haunt Julian, she'll be back."

       "So, speaking of, we figured that there isn't just those creatures out here," Grant said. "If Cassidy's ghost is here, imagine what else will be here."

       "Less talking, more packing up food so we can leave," Noah said.

       "You're the one doing a lot of talking," Grant said. 

       "Because I'm not filling up a bag with food. But we really need to go."

       Dan packed up as much food as he could, as did Grant, and a lot of us decided to carry a bunch of food as well since we were going to where our children was. In fact, I found a shopping basket and used that to carry food, and Cleo did the same.

       Noah, on the other hand, focused less on food and more on grabbing as much salt as he could. I didn't question him since he clearly knew how to deal with ghosts.

       We got back to the bowling alley with no problem and once we were safely inside the building the the door blocked off again, the rest of the kids reunited with their parents, and Wilbur ran over to Grant and gave him a huge hug.

       "So we have a problem," Dan said. "A big one. Those creatures aren't the only things here. We had a run in with a ghost too."

       Ollie was standing by one of the windows, peering outside of it. "Speaking of the ghost, we should probably put salts by all the doors and windows. She's back already."

       "I swear, I'm going to kill that ghost," Noah said as the group he was with before already sprung into action to salt the place, so it was a good thing he brought boxes and boxes of salt.

       "Aren't ghosts already dead?" Calvin asked.

       "Yes. And I'll kill her again."

       "Why are you putting salt around the place?" Gerard asked.

       "Seriously? None of you have watched Supernatural either?" Noah asked.

       "Long story short, ghosts can't pass over a line of salt," Ollie said, still looking out the window. "So as long as all the windows, doors, and other entrances are lined with salt, we should be safe."

       "And if this doesn't work?" Gerard asked.

       "Excuse you, don't doubt my and Ollie's ghost knowledge," Noah said. "We know what we're doing."

       "Then how do you get rid of ghosts completely?" Dan asked.

       Noah sighed. "I was afraid you'd ask that. There are a lot of ways but with the ghost being Cassidy, I don't know if we can achieve them."

_________________

unless they're willing to go to the graveyard in this already creepy spruceworth

i mean whaaaaaat

but yes, at least some of my characters watch supernatural >:( noah and ollie knows what's up.